Innovations in diagnosing and verifying the level of success of treatment of disease have migrated from external imaging processes to internal diagnostic processes. In particular, diagnostic equipment and processes have been developed for diagnosing vasculature blockages and other vasculature disease by means of ultra-miniature sensors placed upon the distal end of a flexible elongate member such as a catheter, or a guide wire used for catheterization procedures. For example, known medical sensing techniques include angiography, intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), forward looking IVUS (FL-IVUS), fractional flow reserve (FFR) determination, a coronary flow reserve (CFR) determination, optical coherence tomography (OCT), trans-esophageal echocardiography, and image-guided therapy. Each of these techniques may be better suited for different diagnostic situations. To increase the chance of successful treatment, health care facilities may have a multitude of imaging, treatment, diagnostic, and sensing modalities on hand in a catheter lab during a procedure. However, each imaging modality in a catheter lab traditionally requires its own special-purpose diagnostic equipment. For instance, an imaging modality may require a catheter, a patient isolation module (PIM), a user control interface, a display, a specialized power unit, and a processing unit such as a customized personal computer. Traditionally, all of this equipment is located in the catheter room itself during a procedure and depends on a substantial wiring infrastructure for connectivity and dependable power. Physical space is typically at a premium in catheter labs and each additional imaging modality employed in a catheter lab complicates the pre-procedure setup and limits the movement of health care professionals during procedures. Additionally, each imaging modality device must be independently setup and managed by a clinician trained to operate the unique controls of the specific devices. This may not be convenient, given the limits of patient safety, procedure time, staffing and the availability of sufficiently trained personnel. Further, current integrated software solutions that combine multiple imaging modalities are difficult to upgrade and are otherwise problematic.
Accordingly, while the existing medical data acquisition and treatment systems and methods have been generally adequate for their intended purposes, they have not been entirely satisfactory in all respects.